Logan receives grant for sewer project

A $3.9 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture will enable Phase II of the Village of Logan sewer project to get started immediately.

Terry Brunner, State Director, USDA presented the grant March 3 to Logan Village Council.

Logan City Manager Larry Wallin said total cost of Phase II is $4,102,812. He said the money comes from three sources, the USDA grant and a loan and a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Versatile Construction Company of Logan won the bid for Phase II.

Work began Tuesday on the project, according to Jean Smith, owner of Versatile Construction.

“We have a year to complete the project,” Smith said.

Wallin said Phase II will use gravity flow systems unlike Phase I — still under construction — which uses grinder pumps to move waste to lift stations.

There will be a first-time, hook-up charge to connect to the new sewer lines, Wallin said. The new service hook-ups will be mandatory for all residents.

Phase II customers can rely on the gravity flow system to move their waste and the hook-up cost will be $1,000.

For those customers who live south of the Loop Road, on Phase I, the hook-up cost is $2,000, Wallin said. He said the additional $1,000 covers a grinder pump to move waste to a lift station.

Wallin said Phase I of the sewer construction is 90 percent complete.

“We just need to start hooking up houses to the system,” Wallin said.

Phase I cost $7.8 million; $4.3 million of that cost is being paid for through another loan from the USDA.

Phase I and II will be tied into the new evaporation pond, which is near completion.

Wallin said construction of a waste treatment plant in Logan was just not financially or technologically feasible, citing the population fluctuation throughout the year with the seasonal lake residents and tourists.

The three evaporation ponds in operation in Logan have been in use since 1972. Wallin said there have been no major problems with those ponds.